Give ‘smart’ gifts for the holidays
with these tech-enhanced gadgets
Smart watch. Wireless earbuds. Cell phone. Laptop or tablet. Your household may already be equipped with these everyday tech essentials. But you can raise the bar for your Christmas gift giving with several ultra-cool (and useful) tech-enhanced goodies.
For the coffee lover
The Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug 2 keeps coffee at the desired temperature set by the user. That’s right. With the Ember app, a coffee drinker can tinker with the degrees to suit their preferred temperature. An LED display on this “smart” mug indicates when the desired temperature has been reached, and the mug will maintain it.
For the techy toy-lover
The mBot Robot from Makeblock is a programmable playmate designed to help kids develop their interest in coding skills in a fun way. This small robot can be built in less than an hour and comes with step-by-step instructions. Kids can also start coding in Scratch, a graphic programming language, with free software included. There’s also an app with 60 game based tasks to challenge kids and help them advance their skills.
For the person who can never find their keys (or other items)
We all know someone who is constantly searching for their keys, wallet, or glasses. Bluetooth-enabled trackers are the perfect gift to help solve this problem. Tile Mate Essentials or Apple Air Tags can easily be attached to personal items and tracked with an app to locate the object when it is missing. Both are available in four packs.
For the person who has everything
A digital picture frame is the gift that keeps on giving with its ability to feature an array of changing photos. some frames also now have the ability to play videos. A Wi-Fi enabled frame is the perfect gift to help families stay connected. The Skylight Frame earned Good Housekeeping’s designation as “Best for Emailing Photos.” It includes storage capacity for 8,000 photos and features a 10-inch display screen. The NixPlay Smart WiFi Photo Frame and the PhotoSpring W-iFi Digital Picture Frame also earned recommendations from Good Housekeeping.
For the health-minded
The Oura Ring (and membership) is designed to help individuals better monitor their health by tracking sleep, activity levels, temperature trends, stress and heart rate, all reported to an easy-to-use app. Through the Oura Ring’s 24/7 tracking, individuals receive daily “scores” – ranging from 0 to 100 – for readiness, sleep, and activity. Scores lower than 85 suggest more rest may be needed.
For anyone fond of the Rubik’s Cube
The SnapX Giiker Electronic Speed Cube takes this puzzle challenge to a whole new level. Via an app, users can access tutorials, timers, tips, and compete for global rankings.
Golden West does not endorse any product or service that it does not sell.
Sources: PopularMechanics.com, GoodHousekeeping.com and The Spruce.com
